Adelaide to Alice Springs

After leaving home we made our way to Lake Hart. This is big rest area just off the highway about 2 hours north of Port Augusta. There is the main area then towards the rail tracks and lake there are tracks and dunes going in all directions. A couple who had just come back from a walk directed us to a campsite they had found. She said the best part was it was secluded with its own fire pit and fire wood.

We made it in and set up for the night. Such a brilliant place. Beautiful clear skies and the Milky Way was huge. We had a had a big sand dune right near us, which you had to go up to access the lake. Chris was up and down that all night taking photos of the sunset, the lake and passing goods trains. The lake surprisingly had water in it. We kept thinking it was an illusion but once our feet were wet we realised it wasn’t an illusion after all.

The next free camp spot was at a roadside stop just south of Marla. Great free camp for the night, felt very safe and quite a few friendly travellers there. The only sad thing was the amount of rubbish. With bins overflowing and rubbish everywhere it certainly wasn’t the best place to stay, however it is was getting late and time for us to be off the road. Which is a shame as it was a great place to stop.

We found enough firewood to cook our evening meal and enjoyed a fabulous sunset.

For the first time we were up early and made way to Alice Springs. We found a brilliant roadside stop past Erldunda called Dessert Oaks. You can camp here overnight for 24 hours only. Very clean and a large site with clean toilets and the bins appeared to be emptied and taken care of. I reckon on our way home we will probably camp here.

We arrived in Alice Springs this afternoon and headed to a caravan park called G’Day Mate. We have stayed here before and have always found this to be the friendliest caravan park here. Alan goes out of his way to make sure you are happy. When we checked in (no prior booking made by us) the office staff advised they were pretty much full but could offer us a unpowered site. We really wanted powered to get a few things charged up. Anyway when Alan was sent to collect us and show us to our site, he said he remembered us and our rig and went out of his way to fit us into a powered site. All amentities are very clean and a very well maintained caravan park.

Anyone who knows us, will know we are fine weather campers and as such hate it being cold or raining… hence on our trip to Darwin we have had the minimum number of overnight stops from SA until we get past Elliott. We have found from past experience that from this point forward the days are gorgeous and nights are warmer. Until we get past Elliott, we will continue to have our diesel heater in the camper working overtime.